Last week the European Commission published a press release regarding EU’s recovery from the financial crisis where it is mentioned that the EU, after 10 years since that start of the crisis, is back to growth because of the EU influential actions. What is more, it was announced yesterday that Germany’s gross domestic product in […]

Last Saturday, the phantom of Wolfgang Schaeuble, the hawkish German minister of Finance, overshadowed the gathering of the 27 EU leaders in the Italian capital, without him having left Berlin. The heads of EU states or governments, at the exception of British MP Theresa May, went there to celebrate the 60th anniversary after the signing […]

Last January, Donald Trump and Boris Johnson were not invited to Davos to present their populist, anti-systemic, anti-establishment, anti-globalization political platforms. Actually, their ‘ideology’ was exorcised from the Swiss Alps and instead, David Cameron was made the star of the three day 2016 meeting. The world’s super rich and powerful applauded his passionate speech about […]

The first day of the World Economic Forum (WEF) began with the opening plenary with Xi Jinping yesterday, President of the People’s Republic of China, monopolizing the interest of the global economic status quo convening these days at the Swiss Alps. This was the first time ever a Chinese President accepts the Davos invite and naturally all the […]

The US Department of Justice settled its claims against Deutsche Bank, the biggest German lender, for packaging and selling toxic mortgage securities to uninformed customers prior to the 2008-2010 financial crisis. Initially, the Justice Department had asked for $14 billion, but it seems it settled for a fine of $7.2bn. However, this is not the […]

Four weeks ahead of the American Presidential elections day of 8 November, and the campaign of the Republican Party and its candidate Donald Trump is in unseen before havoc. Most prominent Republicans in one way or another have undermined the prospects of their own contester to win. It’s pretty clear by now that the establishment […]

This year’s annual meetings of the IMF – World Bank Group in Washington D.C., which kicked off on Thursday 6 October, turned out to be an all out financial war of words between the United States and Germany. In the middle of it stands the battered Deutsche Bank. For a start, there was a confrontation […]

Last Tuesday, the White House and the US Treasury in concerted actions issued farfetched statements against the EU Commission. The EU executive’s decision ordered the US giant technology company Apple Inc. to pay additional taxes of up to €13 billion in Ireland. These instant and strong reactions clearly denote that the US sees this Brussels […]

Last Wednesday, Deutsche Bank’s shares fell by 4.5% in the first hour of trading in Frankfurt, after the bank released its second quarter results, showing a measly profit of €20 million, in comparison to €818 million last year. The percentage fall of this stock is the biggest ever in such a brief time in the […]

Last Thursday morning the International Monetary Fund and the American central bank, the Fed, simultaneously but in the face of it independently, issued warnings about the health of the largest German lender, the long ailing Deutsche Bank. A few days before that the US rating agency Moody’s had degraded the creditworthiness of the bank close […]

The adult Brits are deciding today about their country’s position in or out the European Union, in a referendum that Prime Minister David Cameron was forced by his party’s ultra-Eurosceptics in January 2013 to promise to conduct it, should the Conservative Party win a majority in the 2015 legislative election. This promise was then thought […]

The Finance ministers of the Eurozone met yesterday in Brussels to discuss mainly on the implementation of Greece’s ESM economic adjustment programme and have come to a final deal which will lead to the conclusion of the first review unlocking the second tranche of 10,3 billion euros. The Ministers gave a direct assignment to the […]

It was last Monday when the Eurogroup took place in Brussels to discuss about the Greek programme but no final decisions were made neither on the ESM’s programme first review nor on the debt relief. The Eurozone Finance Ministers decided though to come to an agreement at their next meeting on May 24, after the […]

The teleconference of the EuroWorking Group which took place yesterday is the forerunner of the extraordinary meeting of the Finance Ministers of the Eurozone on May 9 where Greece’s programme review is about to be discussed. The outcome was, as expected, disappointing regarding the agreement between the two sides on the package of basic and […]

The world economy remains more or less motionless or even recedes six years after the financial meltdown, because the banking industry has not yet decided what’s best for its interests. Continue leveraging itself (borrowing) on central bank liquidity in a stagnating environment, or start deleveraging and send the world to another deep recession, if not […]

Last Tuesday, a new steep fall of the price of crude oil by almost 5%, triggered another selloff in all the major capital markets of the world. The New York and the European stock exchanges lost anything between 2% and 3% of their capitalization. One may observe that this development is one of many of […]

At the second day of the World Economic Forum 2016 in Davos the world was anticipating very much the session on China’s outlook and how its growth slowdown affects the entire world. This issue was addressed in a session called “Where is the Chinese Economy heading?” which took place in Sanada room of the Davos Congress […]

It is the first day of the most important economic forum in the world and economy and financial markets are as every year in the foreground. The session called “Preventing Future Shocks” finished a couple of hours ago in the Sanada room in Davos with Maria Bartiromo, anchor and Global Markets Editor of Fox Business Network, […]

Eurozone’s Finance Ministers convened in Luxemburg two days ago and proposed that Greece should immediately focus on the necessary reforms in order to be able to cope with the third bailout programme. Both sides (creditors and Greece) agreed that Greece will have to implement the 48 prerequisites- measures that will unlock the next much needed tranche […]

After a very long session that lasted nearly 25 hours, the Greek government through 222 MP’s said a clear YES to the terms of the third bailout agreement. This strong positive vote provided to Euclid Tsakalotos, the Greek Finance Minister, the necessary tools to seal the deal with his counterparts, which realized late last night at […]

For a long time now the European Union is accused by the rest of the world for the severe austerity and recessionary economic policies it follows, also imposing them on crisis stricken euro area member states like Greece, Spain, Italy and Portugal. This is so despite the fact that the Eurozone economy as a whole […]

On 9 July this newspaper predicted that the Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was adamant about keeping his country in the Eurozone. In order to do this the Sting foresaw that he was prepared not only to pay a dear price for a third bailout scheme (April 2010, June 2012 and July 2015) financed by […]

The Greek indecisiveness and procrastination and the deep division of the euro area countries, with Germany upholding an intransigent position have led to the humiliation of Athens, during the Saturday and Sunday late night meetings of the Eurogroup (the council of the 19 ministers of Eurozone) and the Eurosummit (the 19 heads of Eurozone state […]

The technical teams of the European institutions are now discussing the Greek proposal which was approved yesterday evening by SYRIZA’s governmental council and submitted to the institutions minutes before the deadline in order to have a final agreement at tomorrow’s Eurogroup. The fact that the Greek government has come up with a more professional and […]

The imperative economic realities for the Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will not be altered noticeably after his crushing win in yesterday’s referendum. His ‘no’ (OXI in Greek) option marked an overwhelming victory meaning that the Greeks rejected the latest offer from the country’s creditors. To be reminded, during the past five months the Greek […]

Alexis Tsipras, the Greek Prime Minister, his government and their depressed country are now in real dire straits. This is a much worse position than in any time during the last five years, a period in which Greece repeatedly faced total collapse and was rescued by a troika of creditors (the European Union, the European […]

The deadline of the 4-month extension that the Greek government had received on February 20 just expired today. However, the Greek government and particularly the Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on a last moment decision to return to the negotiating table sent a letter to the institutions only hours before the expiration of the bailout programme. […]

The next meeting of the Finance Ministers of the Eurozone (Eurogroup) is convening tomorrow and the main topic will be the Greek deal with the three institutions. However, the fact that the negotiations haven’t yet reached an accord from both sides makes the agreement very unlikely. That is the reason why the European leaders are preparing […]

The election outcomes in Spain and Poland last week were enough to cause even more uncertainty and turbulences to the already shaken European economy. The European leaders and especially Germany is facing another thorn while they struggle to come to a deal with Greece, which focuses on the austerity policy that is constantly followed by the […]

The Greek government and particularly the Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is currently looking at a deal with the creditors but is facing both interior and exterior “enemies”. Mr Tsipras had extensive talks yesterday in Athens with the government’s officials in order to inform them about the negotiations’ progress. The Finance Minister of Greece – “pop star”, […]

Faces of the Week

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has stressed how hugely important the German automotive industry is for jobs and growth. “We know how important your sector is for our country,” she said at the start of the International Motor Show (IAA) in Frankfurt/Main on Thursday 14 September. Photo: Bundesregierung / Kugler

Mario Draghi, President of the European Central Bank, prepares to read his introductory statement at the Press Conference in Frankfurt am Main, on 7 September 2017, after the meeting of the Governing Council . (ECB Audiovisual Services work, some rights reserved).

British Prime Minister Theresa May leaves 10 Downing Street, returning to the House of Commons for the first Prime Minister Questions since the summer recess. September 6, 2017. (UK Government work, some rights reserved).